Residents are being invited to bring their historical treasures to ‘pop up museum’ events, as part of a Selby District Council project for Selby 950.
Selby Treasures invites people to bring their artefacts and objects along to the community events in shops and in public spaces and share the stories behind them by writing the history of the object as they know it on a label. The artefact owners and their stories will be photographed and recorded.
Focusing on Selby’s history is a key part of the Selby 950 project to celebrate this year’s anniversary of the founding of Selby Abbey.
As the pop up museum progresses and more events take place, banners will display the growing collection of photographs. Some residents will have their portraits and artefacts drawn by graphic artist and novelist Simon Grennon. These portraits will then be displayed at future events.
The events will take place in November and will be followed by a major exhibition featuring the most interesting objects, their owners and their stories in Selby Abbey from 25 January to 9 February 2020. The artwork created earlier in the project will also be on display.
The events will take place at:
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Thursday 14 November, 9.30am-11.30am, Sainsbury’s
Friday 15 November, 11am-1pm, Wetherells (upstairs)
Friday 15 November, 2.30pm-4.30pm, Summit Indoor Adventure
Saturday 23 November, 10am-12pm, Selby Library
Lead executive member with responsibility for housing, health and culture, Cllr Chris Pearson, commented, “Selby has a long and varied history which the Selby Treasures project will celebrate. These events will be like a mystery tour of Selby’s heritage and we’re hoping for quirky, precious and mysterious artefacts and memorabilia.”
Curator Michala Pearson added, “We’re looking forward to showing many different aspects of Selby’s past off to a new generation of Selebians. We’ve already been approached by someone with a walking stick made from a Selby Abbey roof beam following the great fire there.”
Artist Simon Grennan said, “We want the artwork, which will be on display banners, to show the roots between the artefacts, their owners and the history of the town. We’re sure that there will be a really interesting variety of items brought to these events. We can’t wait to get started cataloguing and sharing the stories behind them.”
Another element of the project will see the curators bring Selby artefacts that are currently held in regional museums and collections back to the town for the final exhibition. Participants and visitors to the exhibition will receive a special Selby Treasures brochure commemorating the project.
The project has been made possible thanks to money raised by National Lottery players as the National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded funding to Selby District Council to deliver a programme of arts and heritage events to celebrate the 950th anniversary of the founding of Selby Abbey.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.org.uk. Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund
